Augusta-based Club Car and Textron, manufacturer of EZ GO and Cushman, led the way in a yearlong battle against Chinese imports of golf carts, personal transportation vehicles, low-speed vehicles, and light utility vehicles (collectively, LSPTVs).
The U.S. International Trade Commission has made an affirmative final determination in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on LSPTVs from China.
The Commission found that domestic producers have been materially injured by unfairly traded imports of Chinese LSPTVs, paving the way for trade remedy orders to be put in place. The Commission’s determination follows petitions filed in June 2024 by the American Personal
Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Coalition, a coalition of leading U.S. manufacturers of LSPTVs, namely Club Car, LLC, and Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc.
Throughout the resulting investigations, the Coalition successfully demonstrated that dumped and subsidized LSPTVs from China have injured the domestic industry.
Even before Donald Trump took office and ramped up tariffs against imports, Club Car and EZ GO had launched a successful campaign against Chinese imports.
In an interview with ABD in March, then-CEO Mark Wagner said, “Those golf carts from China disrupted our business. Their products were not up to our standards. American-made, American-designed, American-tested, American-proven; it’s the Club Car difference to provide reliability, quality, and safety. You know, when vehicles are coming from overseas, it’s not necessarily that they’re meeting any of those three things.”
Both companies expressed gratitude for the leadership of Congressman Rick Allen and for the strong support of the Georgia and South Carolina congressional delegations throughout the process.
“This final determination from the U.S. International Trade Commission is a clear win for fair competition and the thousands of American jobs that power our industry. It allows us to stay focused on what matters most – our customers – and continue delivering the high-quality, reliable vehicles and exceptional experience that have defined Club Car for decades. We are proud to engineer, build, and support our products right here in the U.S., and we appreciate the Commission and its staff for their thorough work in reaching this important decision,” said recently appointed President and CEO of Club Car, Craig Scanlon.
“The determination announced today will help to protect the health of a uniquely American industry and the livelihoods of thousands of American workers who build golf cars, low-speed vehicles, and personal-transportation vehicles to serve customers around the world. We appreciate the hard work of the U.S. International Trade Commission and its staff in investigating and adjudicating this important matter,” according to Rob Scholl, President of Textron Specialized Vehicles.
Once issued, the AD/CVD orders will remain in effect for a minimum of five years, and there is an opportunity each year for the AD/CVD rates to increase through the annual administrative review process. The Coalition will now turn its attention to monitoring for any signs of duty evasion, absorption, transshipment, or circumvention by foreign producers and U.S. importers, all of which are strictly illegal.
Editor’s Note: Mitzi Oxford is a veteran broadcaster and features writer who also worked at the same television station in Columbus, Georgia, as Augusta’s Brad Means! If you have a South Carolina story idea for Mitzi, please email her at mitzioxfordcreative@gmail.com.
